3 ms·

Search engines work like databases - Too vague but arguably yes in the abstract. Search can be considered an additional feature just like any other - Yes? How

Search engines work like databases - Too vague but arguably yes in the abstract. Search can be considered an additional feature just like any other - Yes? How do you falsify this? Search can be added as a well performing feature to your existing product quickly - Yes if you're using a CMS with search already there like Drupal, or you can use that thing where your search uses/directs to Google.

iforgotpassword 7y ago
> Search can be added as a well performing feature to your existing product quickly - Yes if you're using a CMS with search already there like Drupal Adding a feature by using a product that already has that feature is not "adding a feature to a product". It's "doing nothing since there's nothing to do". ;-) Using Google search for pages might work for simple sites that mostly host text content, but not for things like "find all foos that are between 20 and 30 kg".
- jimmaswell 7y ago
  If it's just a few things like "find all foos that are between 20 and 30 kg" then that might be nothing but building a simple query out of a few criteria. Not all searches need to be or even aspire to be a super-general search like Google. The ebay search probably isn't all that complicated (relatively) for example. If you're trying to make another Google for some strange reason then the article applies more.
Lowkeyloki 7y ago
I wonder if that one was meant to be controversial as it was the first item. My pedant sense started tingling immediately. Search engines don't work like your standard RDBMS with SQL and whatnot. You can't just make a SQL query with a LIKE operator and just call it a day if you want modern, featureful searching. But a search engine is absolutely a database. Lots of things are databases even if they aren't RDBMS and can't be queried with SQL. Although, as a side note, I have seen some interesting projects that allow you to query things like file systems and operating systems using SQL, or at least syntax largely inspired by SQL.

iforgotpassword 7y ago

> Search can be added as a well performing feature to your existing product quickly - Yes if you're using a CMS with search already there like Drupal Adding a feature by using a product that already has that feature is not "adding a feature to a product". It's "doing nothing since there's nothing to do". ;-) Using Google search for pages might work for simple sites that mostly host text content, but not for things like "find all foos that are between 20 and 30 kg".

jimmaswell 7y ago
If it's just a few things like "find all foos that are between 20 and 30 kg" then that might be nothing but building a simple query out of a few criteria. Not all searches need to be or even aspire to be a super-general search like Google. The ebay search probably isn't all that complicated (relatively) for example. If you're trying to make another Google for some strange reason then the article applies more.

Lowkeyloki 7y ago

I wonder if that one was meant to be controversial as it was the first item. My pedant sense started tingling immediately. Search engines don't work like your standard RDBMS with SQL and whatnot. You can't just make a SQL query with a LIKE operator and just call it a day if you want modern, featureful searching. But a search engine is absolutely a database. Lots of things are databases even if they aren't RDBMS and can't be queried with SQL. Although, as a side note, I have seen some interesting projects that allow you to query things like file systems and operating systems using SQL, or at least syntax largely inspired by SQL.